


Troubled Waters

by ItsaVikingThing, Writerleft



Series: Elements in Balance [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Book 2, Canon Compliant, Collaboration, F/F, Friendship, Support, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 18:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13105704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: “It’s my fault! All of this! Maybe Mako’s right… I just make everything worse…”“Hey, now that’s just not true at all, and if Mako actually said that, I’ll smack his eyebrows off!"





	Troubled Waters

**Author's Note:**

> ItsaVikingThing and Writerleft got tricky... we worked together on this story, and made it so it fits BOTH of our ongoing continuities! That's right, this story is canon compliant for the show, for [Comes Marching Home](http://archiveofourown.org/series/593860), and for [Elements in Balance](http://archiveofourown.org/series/754989)! If you've read one and want something else to read, go read the other! And if you've read neither... what are you doing with your life? 

_Fanart courtesy of[sabeedraws](https://sabeedraws.tumblr.com/post/174659281565/she-wove-over-the-swells-like-a-dragon-through)_

 

“So,” Asami said, following close at Korra’s heels as they descended the gangplank from Varrick’s ship. “Nuktuk, Hero of the South, eh?”

Korra wondered if it was the grinding of her teeth or the pounding of her boots that prompted that question. “Yeah. It’s great. _So_ happy Bolin’s getting to be useful!”

“Useful to Varrick, maybe… I think that whole ridiculous deal is more about making him money than it is helping the South. Besides. Bolin? As a waterbender? He gets chilly in a stiff breeze!”

Korra blinked, slowing slightly. “Huh. His stance will be terrible, his movements all wrong… people will probably see right through it. Yeah, it’s a lousy idea… but at least it’s something! And at this point, anything that might help the South, I’m onboard with!”

“I just hope my mecha tanks can make it down there in time…” She put her hand on Korra’s shoulder, stepping just into view. “Have you heard anything more since we got back? I know Unalaq controls most of the official channels, but I thought, maybe...”

Korra stopped, reluctantly, her body tensed uselessly for action. “I… nothing new. Nothing I want to believe. Spirits! How could all of this happen so quickly? How could I _let_ this happen?”

“Korra--”

“It’s my fault! All of this! Maybe Mako’s right… I just make everything worse…”

“Hey, now that’s just not true at all, and if Mako actually said that, I’ll smack his eyebrows off! It’s not your fault your uncle is such an evil... jerk. You beat the Equalists--”

Korra looked away. “That was luck--”

“That was _tenacity_. Korra… the problems between the North and the South go back decades, back to the War even. How could you be expected to unravel them, especially when you were given bad information to begin with?”

Korra smiled bitterly. “You mean lied to? By my parents? By Tenzin? By my teachers and protectors?”

It was Asami’s turn to look away. “Was it my fault I was lied to by _my_ father?”

Korra winced. “Spirits... “ Korra sucked in a breath and tried to force some kind of calm on herself for the first time in… she’d lost track. When was the last time she’d felt at peace? “Asami… I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget… how are _you_ holding up?”

Asami smiled, but there was something off about it. Inauthentic. “Oh, you heard in there. Things are getting a bit desperate, the company needs some cash flow to--”

“I didn’t ask about your company, Asami.”

Asami opened her mouth, then closed it. She shrugged. “I mean, fine, I guess. I don’t… I’m just trying to focus on what I can control, right now.” She didn’t sound like she’d finished, but she didn’t continue, either.

Korra laughed. “There are things you can control? What’s that like?”

Asami chuckled, and a hint of a real smile leaked out. “Maybe ‘control’ isn’t the best word… but I can at least try. Like you are, with the South. You can’t control your uncle or Raiko, but you’re not gonna quit just because it’s hard. People you care about need help, and you’re gonna see they get it. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t keep fighting.”

Korra stared at her. In the last few months, plenty of people had been lining up to tell Korra how she should keep her head down, keep studying, stay out of politics, out of the world’s dangers. Even Mako told her she was more likely to cause trouble than to prevent it. He’d been in an RCPD uniform for barely any time at all and he thought he knew better than the Avatar!

But Asami… Asami had been weathering her own storms all this time and she was still here, offering Korra support. Korra looked at her, intently, past the perfectly arranged hair and makeup and the practiced smile. Asami’s face was thinner, Korra realised with a shock. Her eyes were so tired.

Korra swallowed. “Hey… you aren’t thinking of quitting on me, are you? A lot of people need you, too. I know I do.”

And if Korra had recently discovered that she didn’t know as much as used to think she did, she knew that much was true. She needed Asami in her life.

Asami had several inches on her, but somehow, just this moment, she seemed to be looking up at Korra. Vulnerable. So many questions boiled behind those tired eyes.

Finally, she shook her head, turning to look out over the ocean. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

The tone lacked Asami’s usual certainty. “Asami… you said I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t keep fighting? Well, that’s something the two of us have in common, don’t you think? You don’t have a drop of quit in you!”

Asami gave a mirthless chuckle. “Sure seems like people keep testing that hypothesis of yours. You think people doubt you? At least everyone _knows_ you’re the Avatar. I’m a nineteen year-old trying to run a huge company on the verge of bankruptcy. All I have to fall back on is my name, and that’s not exactly a boon these days.”

“Asami…” Korra startled when a pair of sailors pushed past them, noticing all the activity on the dock. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”

Korra started towards the shore, turning things over in her mind. Asami followed, quiet at her side. “I don’t think that’s all you’ve got to fall back on.”

“Good looks don’t get you that far in the business world, Korra,” Asami half-chuckled. “That’s mostly a mask, too…”

“That’s not what I meant!” Korra stopped, glaring at Asami. “I mean, you _are_ beautiful. That’s obviously not a mask. But that’s not the point! The point is… you’re not just a Sato! Or a CEO! Or an engineering genius! You’re all of those things and more!”

Asami blushed, just a little, but didn’t reply. Korra got the sense she’d like her to keep talking, and was more than happy to oblige.

“I know you’re having a tough time… actually, I kinda don’t? Because I feel like you’re not telling me everything. And that’s maybe a little my fault, too. I’ve been… not busy at all. I’ve been wanting to be busy. I’ve been… wanting to be the Avatar. For real. But… no one else seems to want that and I--”

Asami clutched Korra's hand. "I know just what we need," she said, her long legs suddenly moving with purpose and dragging Korra along behind her.

“Where are we going?” Korra asked, as Asami turned as they stepped off the dock, taking them along the shore.

“You have all the pressure in the world on you, and I have all this pressure on me, and doesn’t it just make you want to _scream_ sometimes?”

“Sometimes?” Korra thought about her tightly coiled muscles and the prospect of never seeing her father or mother again. “Pretty much all the time these days.”

Korra let herself be guided along the shore and down a slipway. At the foot of the ramp, a Future Industries speedboat bobbed gently in the tide. Asami stopped and gestured proudly.

Korra raised her eyebrows. “What’s this now?”

Asami smirked. “A driving lesson.”

“Okay, I believe in your genius, but this isn’t one of your best ideas…”

“I’ll take her out,” Asami reassured her. “Then we’ll have all of Yue Bay to ourselves. There’s a lot fewer gears on this, not to mention, a lot fewer things to crash into.”

Korra hesitated. “Fewer isn’t none, though.”

Asami stepped toward Korra, laying her hands on Korra’s shoulders. She looked up at Asami’s face--how incredibly close she was--and… well it couldn’t be said that Asami Sato didn’t know how to command attention. “Korra, the two of us are at our wits end with all the responsibilities the world keeps piling on us. You’ve got your Avatar duties and a civil war and spirit disturbances, I have my company collapsing and everything that happened with my dad, and all the while, people keep looking at us, like what? Like we’re a couple of inexperienced teenagers in way over our heads. Does that about sum it up?”

After a moment, Korra realized Asami expected a reply.

“I think you forgot the part where my boyfriend… uh, actually never mind! That’s close enough!”

If the mention of Asami’s ex bothered her, she didn’t show it. “Well, the thing is, Korra, they’re kinda _right_. We _are_ a couple of teenagers, only with everything else going on, they aren’t letting us be that. Don’t we deserve the chance to be frivolous now and then?”

Korra thought about it. “So… where’s the go fast button?”

Asami smiled. “Good question. But it’s not a button, it’s a _lever_. You can pick just how much ‘go fast’ you want.”  

Korra felt her muscles relax. She allowed herself a grin. A real one. “All the fast. I think we should use all the fast, Asami.”

Asami’s smile blossomed into a cloud-parting grin. “That’s what I thought. Hop in, I’ll show you how it works.”

 

-

 

Asami navigated them out into open water, piloting the craft carefully until they were well away from the larger vessels and other traffic. Korra watched her graceful movements, trying to figure out the controls but also enjoying the way Asami’s confidence was reasserting itself.

Then, Asami gave her a glance and shoved a lever forward. Korra huffed as she was slammed into her seat by the boat’s burst of speed. Soon they were both laughing over the roar of the engine and the spray of salt. She wove over the swells like a dragon through clouds, turned so tight Korra feared they might capsize, and all the while, the laughter only got louder, truer. Freer.

Asami eased the throttle back much too soon, but only so she could turn to Korra and say, “Your turn!”

Korra still felt a little giggly as they traded seats. “You’re sure there’s nothing I can hit?”

Asami frowned, rubbing her chin. “Hmm… maybe some submerged rocks? Oh, no! Oops!” Asami nudged the lever and the boat surged forward again.

Korra yelped. “Asami!” And then she began to relax again, grinning as she felt the craft respond to her, as they cut cleanly through the waves. “Okay, yeah! All the fast!”

Korra thrust the lever as far as it would go, Asami cheering her on. Wind and water tore at her hair, sending it flapping behind her, but Asami clearly paid it no mind.

She leaned close to Korra, shouting to be heard above the motor. “This is what I love about machines!” she said. “I understand them! You push the lever, it lets more fuel through the fuel injector, that makes the pistons move faster, that spins the prop more quickly… cause and effect! No guesswork! No surprises!”

Korra smiled wryly. “Yeah! I wish the rest of life was like that!”

“Louder!”

Korra nodded. Rather than shout, she eased back the throttle, slowly bringing the boat to a halt. She turned to Asami and paused, staring past her at the now distant Republic City. “I didn’t realise we’d come so far so quickly…”

“Yeah, she’s a powerful little speedster. I figure, a couple extra tanks of fuel, keep it about 70% of top speed, you could make the Fire Nation from here.”

“Oh?” Korra looked at Asami, smirking. “Wanna make a trip of it?”

Asami slowly shook her head. “We don’t have the fuel for that right now, Korra.”

They looked at each other, smiles fading.

“Yeah,” Korra sighed. “Fuel’s not the only problem, is it?”

“I mean, we’d need water to drink too--”

Korra didn’t even need a word to interrupt her, just a tilt of her head. Asami knew what she meant.

Asami nodded. “There’s still a lot for both of us to do. But it can wait, just a little while. Sometimes if you keep pushing too hard at a problem, you just exhaust yourself. You actually do better stepping away for a while, doing something else. Something to recharge yourself.”

“Yeah?” Korra gently traced a fingertip under Asami’s eye, smearing off a little makeup and exposing the bags beneath. “How often are you following your own advice?”

Asami’s short, single laugh was answer enough.

Korra nodded. “My problem is… this is all I am. I’m the Avatar, Asami. That’s all I’ve got. And… times like this…” Korra locked her hands around the wheel, gripping as tight as she could. “I wanted this,” she whispered. “Something like this…”

“Like… a boat ride?”

Korra snorted, shaking her head, smiling in spite of herself. “How do you…? I… wanted something to happen. So I’d be needed. So I could prove I was… I don’t know…”

“Worthy?”

Korra slumped. “Yeah. And now my home’s being torn apart, and people are at war and I don’t know what to do.”

“Can… can you talk to Aang, or other past Avatars?”

“Aang solved my _last_ crisis! Besides… I’ve tried. I’m still not exactly Little Miss Spiritual.”

“Korra… Aang’s gone. He didn’t solve the last crisis. He was able to help _you_ solve it. That’s all. And does it matter? If you’re worthy? Or if you get help from someone else? You save people. You are going to save _your_ people. That’s all that’s important.”

Korra’s hands loosened. She looked down into her lap. “Do… Asami, do _you_ think I’m worthy?”

“I think you’re Korra. I think you’re my friend. And I think that the only person who gets to decide if you’re worthy or not is you.”

Korra turned the boat, killing the throttle once they were facing the city itself. “I… I try really hard to be, Asami. But everything I try blows up in my face.”

“Did you read about Aang’s life? During the War? He lost a _lot_ of battles, Korra. And now…”

Asami pointed, and Korra turned to see the statue of her predecessor, watching over the city he’d helped create.

Korra nodded. “Right. You’re right. I can’t give up. I can’t be afraid I’ll fail. I am the Avatar. And I’ve got a job to do.” Korra added, softly, “Thanks, Asami.”

Asami put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t mention it.”

Korra sucked in a breath and heaved it out again along with as many of the thoughts that had weighed her down as she could rid herself of. “Now. How do I help you?”

“Help me?”

“Help you! You said it yourself, you’re under a ton of pressure. What can I do to help?”

“Korra, I couldn’t ask--”

“Maybe you should. Ask, I mean. But either way, you’re not asking, I’m offering. How can I help?”

Asami blinked, turning away for a long moment. “Um… I don’t suppose you need a few thousand Satomobiles?”

Korra pursed her lips. “Yeah… that’s… I still don’t really have money? Or anywhere to park… And I can’t drive. So… I’m good at punching things? And bending! I’m pretty good at that, too!”

“I noticed,” Asami said, eyes twinkling. “But honestly… this. Talking. This has been nice.”

“Yeah. It has. And I can at least do that for you, Asami. Any time you need to talk. I can listen.”

“I… yeah, Korra. I would like that. Just knowing I have somebody who will listen to me scream at the world…”

“Or join in?” Korra offered.

“Or join in,” Asami agreed. “That makes a difference. That helps.”

They shared a smile. Out in the bay, nobody else around for miles, Korra felt closer to another person than she had in ages. _Somebody_ understood.

“Well… should we take her back in?” Asami asked.

“Yeah,” Korra said. “We’ve both got things to take care of.” She wasn’t particularly eager to have all those demands and expectations crash back down on her… but they weren’t going away, no matter how long they stayed at sea. “And probably, you’ll want to redo your hair.”

Asami chuckled, feeling the tangled mess the speeding about had created of it. “Oh, don’t get up,” Asami stopped her as she started standing. “You’re driving us back.”

Korra grinned at her, and turned the engine back on. “If you insist.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and we'd appreciate any comments, as always! Or, feel free to reach out at our tumblrs: [writerleft ](http://threehoursfromtroy.tumblr.com/)[itsavikingthing](https://postfuguestate.tumblr.com/)


End file.
